Recital 22

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Workers’ Representatives Convention No 135 (1971), currently ratified by 24 Member States, worker representatives can be persons who are recognised as such under national law or practice, whether they are trade union representatives, namely representatives designated or elected by trade unions or by members of such unions, or elected representatives, namely, representatives who are freely elected by the workers of the undertaking in accordance with provisions of national laws or regulations or of collective agreements and whose functions do not include activities which are recognised as the exclusive prerogative of trade unions in the country concerned. That Convention states that, where both trade union representatives and elected representatives exist in the same undertaking, such representation is not to be used to undermine the positions of the trade unions concerned or of their representatives, and that cooperation between the elected representatives and the trade unions concerned or their representatives is to be encouraged.